The identification of processed foods has a long history. For marketing purposes, specific brand names and logos have always informed consumers of food quality. Consumer confidence was maintained on a solid basis of brand integrity. When the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) was created, it added legal requirements for labeling of foods for uniformity and consumer protection. The latest labeling law requires additional portion and nutritional information. But what has long been missing for both manufacturer and consumer confidence has been the traceability of ingredients and processed foods through the entire food system from harvest to consumer.
Purchasing department paper trails have provided some traceability, particularly from harvest to processor, but once the food or ingredient has been processed, there have been no methods available to identify one processing site or source from another. With the current concepts of liability and insurance claims, the food manufacturing industries need to be able to identify their products in the marketplace in the absence of any labeling or other identification. It is particularly important to be able to identify small quantities of returned food items that may or may not be in their original packaging, which may or may not be correctly identified by the person returning the item(s), or for any other of many reasons. The need for specific markers that can trace the identity of a food back to its original processing location is becoming a critical new requirement for food manufacturers.
Markers need to trace a wide range of processed foods, some of which cannot be readily adapted to having materials added to them. In some cases, sub-cellular markers may have to be used to provide identity. In others, cellular or multi-cellular materials may be used. Many spices and preservatives can be markers themselves, as well as in conjunction with morphological markers to provide additional specificity for product identifications. Sometimes a completed food item has components from several sources. Markers of different kinds are needed to identify the manufacturers of buns and meat patties that become part of a completed food product or system. The similarity of baked buns, for example, makes it critical for a supplier of buns to be able to identify their products from those of another supplier of buns used in the same restaurant or outlet. It is particularly critical when liability must be determined for foreign material reportedly found in a bun where two suppliers are used at the same location. In addition, the markers used in buns cannot confound those used in meats or condiments, and so forth.